What is House of the Scorpion About?
We first meet Matt, a young six year old boy. He is a sweet boy who lives with a caretaker, Celia. She isn’t his mother but she loves him dearly, and seems over protective of him. As the story unfolds we learn that Matt lives in the middle of a vast opium farm in a nation called Opium formed between the United States and Azlan (formerly Mexico). Opium is ruled by Matteo Alacran “El Patron” a ruthless wealthy 140 year old man. Matt is his clone. We quickly learn through Matt’s eyes that clones are regarded as lower than dogs in the general scheme of things in Opium. Most clones are deliberately brain damaged at birth, but El Patron’s clone Matt is not. He is educated and quite talented. Despite Matt’s talents all but Marie, a girl his age, depise him. The novel unwinds through Matt’s eyes as he grows from a boy to a teenager. He makes friends with Marie, the daughter of a U.S. Senator and forms a close bond with his Scottish bodyguard Tam Lin. However, he also makes powerful enemies wit
